David Kercsmar

7 ways to make your CRM your biggest friend: 𝟭. 𝗜𝗻𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 After each call or meeting, immediately record new information. No detail is too small. Certainly, it's not fun. But your future self will thank your for keeping detailed records. Do it 2 days later or on Friday afternoon. By then most of it is gone and who wants to go through that recording again? Do it immediately. Make it a habit. 𝟮. 𝗦𝗲𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸𝘀. For each contact, always define a clear next action and set it as a task with a deadline. Your CRM should allow you to set next steps like demo, call, email as next steps so you can work efficiently. I like to filter by due date and just get going when following up or prospecting.  𝟯. 𝗨𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗥𝗠'𝘀 𝗲𝗺���𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Connect your email and send all outreach directly from the CRM to keep track effortlessly. Should be a no-brainer. Still, I see too many reps work from Gmail or Outlook instead of the CRM. 𝟰. 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 Your manager loves dashboards, and so should you. Start your day by reviewing your dashboard for tasks, leads to follow up on, and opportunities to close. Get the broader view by comparing yourself to team members and other reps. Why is my average deal cycle 10 days longer than for other AEs? Why did my win rate go down in Q3? ↳ helps you constantly improve and build a quality pipeline. Bonus: your manager will love you for coming to the 1:1s with these questions and answers, but also asking for their input. 𝟱. 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻-𝘂𝗽 Even the best seller will fail with a messy pipeline. Set a time each week to clean up. Pipeline hygiene is key. For me, it's Friday afternoon. Dedicate time each week to update deal stages, close lost opportunities, and refresh your focus. ↳ Remember: Better to say goodbye early... 𝟲. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗽 Trade show? F2F meeting? Short client call on the way to kindergarten? Use your CRM's app for notes and tasks on the go. A pro seller stays focused on every detail. 𝟳. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁-𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀 If your CRM has it, use the dialer to make and log calls, keeping all data in one place. Making calls directly from the contact or opp will save you hours each week. I'm using Pipedrive in my sales job. Join me in a short webinar on 25th April where I share exactly how I optimize for efficiency, do follow-ups, and outbound: https://lnkd.in/g6yVuWdS P.S. Get 20% off Pipedrive + 30-day free trial: https://lnkd.in/gnVTwpdR

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Shout-out to Erik Steffen for leading the way for SalesPlaybook to go from 0 to Hubspot Platinum Solutions Partner in <12 months! 🚀 As a former "Salesforce Fanboy" (and certified Admin for 5+ years) myself, I was a bit unsure which CRM to recommend for B2B Entrepreneurs for some time. Since a while, the picture is much clearer for me on "the Go-To-CRM for our ICP (see below). I also find it stunning that we might be literally the only Hubspot Platinum Partner in DACH 100% focused on B2B Sales for entrepreneurs with a Mid-Market/Enterprise Sales Motion. ----- "CRM Evaluation in a nutshell" 🚀 Hubspot is the best CRM for B2B Entrepreneurs with CHF 0-10 Mio. A(R)R. Period. 🐘 Salesforce is "The Elephant in the Zoom" - big, powerful, but also not as nimble, easy to maintain & "feed" (think license + optimization fees) as you like at 6-/7-figure annual revenue. 🐿️ Pipedrive...well, drives the pipe, but gets (too) messy quickly on outbound /marketing-sales integration, reporting & account-based selling Zoho, Close, Attio etc. might seem a bit cheaper at first than the above, but are also more work and messier to build & scale sales than desirable, especially for 5- & 6-figure average deal sizes. Thanks Fabian Hartmann Allison Ziehr Paul Vorsmann Alina Schmitz & a ton more Hubspot colleagues - let's paint the town orange! Cheers from Erik's & my "Shine Bright Like A Diamond" working session earlier this week 💠😎

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cold outreach is the worst channel for sales. well, in case you are doing it wrong - then yes. With the long e-mails, random databases, no solution selling or value proposition. but the truth is that if you want to proactively sell, you have not much choice left... cold emailing cold calling LinkedIn outreach offline events various strategies work if they are done wisely. so experiment with what you do, apply different approaches, follow the best in class. there are many of cool creators on LinkedIn who provide so many tips for free. and remember - there will always be a "yes" after a dozen of "no's" #coldoutreach #prospecting #outbound

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Sometimes less is more… It’s counterintuitive, you’d think that if you want to book more meetings and generate more opportunities you just need to reach more account’s. When I was an #SDR / #BDR at one point I had 450 accounts under my name. We did a territory/account reshuffling and had to pass over 3/4 of my accounts to additional team members. I went to booking 4 meetings to 12 meetings in one month. Why? There was focused strategic personalized approach versus trying to cast a wide and shallow net. When I was leading the strategic team at Dun & Bradstreet my team of 6 BDRs in total had 80 accounts (though that’s including all of the subsidiaries and business units within each account). My team was hyper focused and was able to hit their goals. At 6sense we routed unowned accounts in market based off of 6sense’s predictive analytics to make sure they were worked. And I was constantly reviewing who had enough accounts (mostly because we had some rockstars using a great solution helping them continue booking meetings) even with the automation. Though I had one rep that had too many accounts, once again when we cleaned up her account list, she ended up being a top performer. So good rules of thumb: If you targeted Smb/mid-market accounts - 200/250 accounts If you target enterprise accounts - 120/150 accounts Strategic accounts - depends on how large and how many business lines you sell to but it could easily be a book of business that’s 20/40 accounts (and their family trees) In the comments sharing a link with TOPO’s (now Gartner) SDR benchmark report from 2019 (I know a bit dated) to reference #qualityoverquantity #pipelinegeneration

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Check out 3 tips to help sellers maximize wins & identify the difference between LinkedIn and Sales Navigator.

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I connected with two cold calls yesterday Both said: "Now is not a good time because we just finalize a project" Me: “When is the right time for you to pick up the topic again?” Them: "After summer. You can call me in 3 months - mid September" Me: "How about we book already a meeting in? Is easier for both so that we do not have to remember." Them: "Yes sure - 12th September in the morning?" Me: "I sent you the invite. Did you get it?" Them: "Yes, I just accepted" Works almost every single time Don’t hoard tasks - hoard meetings It is easier to handle PS: Some may say that they might not show up now. I say: still better to have a meeting in the calendar they need to cancel rather than a task that you call them again in 3 months

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👉 Sales in 2024 is not getting any easy! We have talked to several sales leaders in the last 6 months and here are common themes in B2B segment: 1) Pipeline creation is getting harder day by day. ICP assumptions an year ago are no longer valid. 2) Outbound is becoming very challenging. Delivery rates and Open rates are plummeting. 3) Inbound seems to be a mirage. Needing to spend more $ for the same result couple of years ago. 4) Sales teams are getting frustrated for repeatedly missing quotas. 5) T2D2 growth is not possible anymore leading to rethinking of viability of companies. 6) What was a "must have" couple of years ago is a "nice to have" now as many of their customers also looking to just survive. 7) There is a lot of sales rep churn and not able to hire great reps that fit the business. Are there any other themes? #sales #salesmanagement #salesteams #b2b

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10 Best Tools to streamline SDRs Sales Process. 1. Cognism:   ↳ A sales intelligence platform.  ↳ Offers a globally compliant database for company and contact searches.     2. Salesforce:   ↳ The CRM giant provides a suite of tools that ↳ Analyze sales data.  ↳ Manage the Sales pipeline.  ↳ Track customer interactions. 3. Outreach:   ↳ A sales engagement platform that helps SDRs to   ↳ Automate and prioritize their sales activities.    4. Chili Piper:   ↳An automated scheduling tool that helps SDRs   ↳Book meetings without the back-and-forth emails.    5. LinkedIn Sales Navigator:   ↳ A tool that uses LinkedIn’s vast network to help SDRs   ↳ Find and connect with potential leads.    6. Aircall:   ↳ A cloud-based call center and phone system that integrates with productivity and helpdesk tools.    7. Hunter:   ↳ It helps find verified email addresses quickly.    8. RocketReach:   ↳ Connect with prospects through emails and direct dials.  ↳ Boast a large and accurate database.    9. Snov.io:   ↳ Offers a free email verification tool to help SDRs   ↳ Spend less time finding leads and more on converting them.    10. HubSpot:   ↳ A top-level CRM that ↳ Connects data between teams and departments.  ↳ Offer various hubs for marketing, sales, and operations. Remember, These tools can help SDRs to be more efficient in their roles by  ↳ Providing valuable insights.  ↳ Automating repetitive tasks.  ↳ Facilitating better communication with prospects.  It’s important for SDRs to choose tools that integrate well with their existing tech stack and align with their sales strategies. P.S. Which Tool do you like the most and why? 🔔 Follow Zain Arif for Daily Sales Tips 📌 Book a 30 Minutes Sales Consultation with Munzai Solutions! Link in the Comment below 👇 #Sales #SalesTools #SDRs  

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I wrote a step-by-step sales guide for early-stage CROs. Struggling to convert inbound leads? This is for you. I used almost this exact process to: → Increase inbound sales by 80% → 21x inbound sales conversion rates → Feel WAY more confident with my sales process If this is you: "I have no idea why my inbound leads never close!" Then you need this guide. I wrote out how to: ☑️ Analyze the customer’s journey ☑️ Refine your sales strategy ☑️ Lower the barrier to entry for intro calls ☑️ Follow up with a script to schedule demos ☑️ Connect with leads when they're most interested 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗥𝗢’𝗦 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼… → Hack the inbound sales with automation and proven tactics for success → Provide leads with a best-in-class experience from first contact to close → Streamline the sales process with one easy-to-use tool → Help their sales team be proactive and organized → Increase their speed in contacting with prospects So, every sale starts with prospects looking for a product like yours. If you don't have a firm grasp on your sales process you'll keep leaking deals. Your product is too good to be lost due to a poor landing page. So, I wrote this guide to help y'all get started. 👉 Comment "Inbounds suck" and 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲, and I'll DM you the guide. ___ I'm Sergio Fernandez I help B2B SaaS companies supercharge their inbound sales. Click my name + connect with me!

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Stop letting junior SDRs reach out to your C-Suites. Buyers don’t want to talk to salespeople anymore. They want trusted advisors. Domain experts.  Yet, for some reason, 99% of sales teams completely ignore this fact and let their junior SDRs reach out to C-suites — then they sit back and wonder why their outbound doesn’t work. The WHO factor is more important today than ever before. Here’s what it means moving forward: 1. Trusted Advisors vs. SDRs: Would you take medical advice from a first-year med student? Probably not. In the same vein, expecting a junior SDR to convince a C-suite executive is a flawed strategy. Buyers today want insights from those seeped in the industry, not those reading off a script. 2. The New-Age SDR: These SDRs have authority in their field and are the ultimate subject matter experts. They possess a highly relevant audience of ICP and excel in content creation and audience engagement. They understand the nuances and pains of the prospects and create value-driven conversations, not just touchpoints. 3. Team-Selling is a Necessity: If a CFO checked your website, why in the world would you let your SDR reach out? Facilitate outbound requests to your CFO and ask them to personally connect with the prospect from their profile. It’s about leveraging the right person at the right time to build trust and relevance. 4. Signal-Based Selling: Your outreach should be driven by real-time data and intent signals. Spot the triggers: website visits, content downloads, recent funding, etc. Engage with the right person, when the timing is perfect, with the right message from the right person. This isn’t about volume; it’s about precision. TAKEAWAY: In this new era, it's not about how many emails you send, but WHO is sending them and WHY. In 2024, the most successful companies will have GTM teams that look more like consulting firms than old-school sales orgs. The next-gen of successful sales orgs will be the ones that evolve beyond the old playbooks and focus on trust, relevance, and the power of human connection. The future isn’t just lean. It’s personal.

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Your prospects don't want to talk to sales before they know, you can solve their problem. So don't force them. The screenshot is from a channel with one of our clients. They celebrate an inbound lead for an enterprise software products, where the meeting was booked from organic traffic. Why this is significant? Even in the enterprise software segment, marketing playbooks are changing. Buyers are doing extensive research online, ensuring they are fully informed before reaching out to sales. To adapt to this shift, SEO is your best ally. I know it might sound boring, but search engines are still the most used online application when it comes to researching products or services. And with ever rising CPCs and CPMs, an investment in SEO is mostly one of the best in the long run. But it's important how you approach this channel. Old school SEO with glossaries? No! New school SEO with product-led content and a focus on the jobs-to-be-done of your ICP? Yes! If SEO is not working for you, chances are high that you just don't do the right things yet. How do you approach the changing buyer behavior? #SEO #DigitalMarketing #LeadGeneration #MarketingStrategy #SaaS #Enterprise

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Working in sales is not a walk in the park. There are times when nothing is working, and you are unable to explain why. The key is bouncing back collectively. Here are three things I do to keep my team motivated: 1️⃣ Communicate. I admit when I don't have all the answers. Instead, I incentivize everyone to speak up. Everyone's perspective helps us find solutions. 2️⃣ Coach individually. No two people are alike, and getting everyone on the same page is easier said than done. If people are doing well, let them know. If people can improve, be ultra-precise with your feedback. 3️⃣ Sustain motivation. Short-term incentives create pressure and frustration long-term. Instead, I focus on fostering an environment where people feel valued and are intrinsically motivated. Keeping a team fired up is an ongoing process. There's no perfect formula, but it's crucial to support each other through the tough stretches. What are your tips and tricks for keeping your team motivated? #B2B #Sales #SalesMotivation #Leadership #SalesManagement

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Product-Led Sales can level up your B2B growth. (But it's really hard to get right) Reply invited me to give a talk at their B2B Growth Summit. So we'll be talking about PLS live on April 25th: �� What is Product-Led Sales? — How to get Product-Led Sales right? — Why and how to leverage PQLs/PQAs? — Practical examples for your sales team — What PLS looks like at Contrast But you already know most of this. Come to get actionable answers to these questions: → What are the conditions to start running PLS? → What tools do you need to make it work? → What kind of data do you need to track? → How to write good email copy for PLS? → How to build automation around PLS? We'll build out a Product-Led Sales strategy & practical example from the ground up. Get ready for a dive deep so you can figure out if PLS is for you. What should I make sure to cover? Drop your questions in the comments. Come by to ask me any (and all of) your questions or just to support me 🫶 You know where to find the linky link

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CS leaders and implementation specialists, please just don't. Honestly, it's probably better not to adopt AI in your CS if these are the results. This is an actual screenshot. The brand is using a well-known CS platform. What hurts my heart the most is that there are so many legacy CS companies wrapping the crappiest GPT calls into their platforms and claiming GenAI capabilities. Yes, the potential is real. The promise of AI is realistic. But find yourself a company with real capabilities, know-how, and understanding of your flows and automation needs. Don't just increase payments with your current provider for minimal AI capabilities or, even worse, regression in CX. #igaming #aiincs #sigma #nextio

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10 salespeople spend a minimum of 500 hours in sales conversations / month. Yet, 95% of the information from these conversations is typically lost. The Consequence: - Lack of understanding of customer pain points and buying behavior. - Poor Go-To-Market Strategy. Capturing customer conversations and transforming them into actionable insights is the most crucial action in your go-to-market strategy! #sales #b2bsales #salesmeeting #ai #customer

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Biggest red flag in marketing…? 👉 "Reports to the Sales & Marketing Director" ============ As is his habit, Danny Asling nails old-fashioned thinking to the wall. In my experience, most CEOs, even younger ones, are old school – which means that they see marketing as an annoyance, a cost center, or – at best – a subset of sales. The less they think of marketing, the more likely we'll see Danny's "Sales & Marketing Director" – who, no matter her intentions, will always be under pressure primarily to take care of sales, thus relegating marketing to an afterthought. In most industries today, a CMO who reports to the CEO is needed to reach the company's revenue goals. Or if that's not doable, then a structure with three Directors of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Experience, respectively. Link to Danny's excellent post in the comments. #sales #marketing #cx #revenueacceleration #organization

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The simplest way to increase sales conversion & velocity? DIDO - Date In Date Out. Instead of obsessing about MEDD(P)ICC vs SPICED, Outbound Email SaaS A vs B etc. ... ...simply always schedule your next synchronous touchpoint with your prospect during the call. "Let me get evaluate internally and get back to you if interesting / once feedback in I guess 1-2 weeks?" Schedule a 30min call in 2 weeks. "Just send me the offer, it should be fine to sign next week?" Schedule a 15-30min call in 1 week. Just never. ever. let deals slip just out of Laziness. Carelessness. And honestly naivety. Do you agree?

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Troy said it: good tools and effort. Effort: 🏆 S/O Cameron Helfeldt & Marines Florido for crushing Q3 so far! Tools contributing: Foundry ABM ✅ If your teams aren't hitting revenue/pipeline goals - what are you waiting for? Chat with us to get you there! P.S. there's so much frustration on LI with AI/Sales conversations right now. If your teams are doing well, pls highlight them ✨ #abm #accountbasedmarketing #demandgeneration #b2bmarketing #b2bsales #sdr #bdr #quota #noexcuses #sales #pipeline #revenue #goals #prospecting #outreach

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EVERYONE is talking about Signal-based Sales Automation. But signals alone won’t help. Signal-based Sales is not new. In fact every good Sales rep is looking for signals, clues, pain points, etc. in Sales talks (think about Sales Qualification Methodologies like BANT, MEDDIC, MEDDPICC, etc.). The problem: In the past this was mainly applied to Inbound Leads. What IS new is more and more data can be leveraged as Sales signals through GenAI. And data platforms, web scraping technologies and platforms like our Sales Automation platform allow automation at scale. Before ChatGPT you might have researched manually that a company is looking for Marketing Managers and maybe you would have googled your way through to who might be the right person to talk to and what is mentioned in the Job description. Today, you can observe ALL job openings on an ongoing basis, automatically filter out which companies are the right fit for you and trigger a search who might be responsible for that. ChatGPT helps you to analyze the job description text (e.g. what kind of Corporate Benefits are mentioned or Tech Stack, contact details mentioned etc.). 😱 What ChatGPT DOESN’t solve for you (yet) is thinking and connecting the dots. To leverage the true power of Signal-based Sales Automation you have to combine: 1️⃣ External Factors: ▶ Signal relevancy (e.g. Job search) ▶ ICP Filter (is the company a fit for you) ▶ Pain Points (what does the company ACTUALLY want to solve?) 2️⃣ Internal Factors: ▶ Your Offer (related to the Signal & Pain Point) ▶ Your Value Proposition (any offer can be described in multiple ways and understanding what creates VALUE for your clients is paramount) ▶ Social Proof (Case Studies, Quotes, etc. that support your claim) Probably I have to think about a better acronym, but let’s call it SIP-OVP for now ;)

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